Scala : Java Glossary

A statically typed language inter-operable with Java. You can think of it as Java
with an accent. The evolution of Java and C++ has slowed down considerably and
programmers who are eager to use more modern language features are looking elsewhere.
Scala is an attractive choice; in fact, I think it is by far the most attractive
choice for programmers who want to move beyond Java or C++. Scala has a concise
syntax that is refreshing after the Java boilerplate. It runs on the Java virtual
machine, providing access to a huge set of libraries and tools. It embraces the
functional programming style without abandoning object orientation, giving you an
incremental learning path to a new paradigm. The Scala interpreter lets you run quick
experiments, which makes learning Scala very enjoyable. Last but not least, like
Java, Scala is statically typed, enabling the compiler to find errors, so that you
don?t waste time finding them — or not?later in the running program.